Have you ever read a book and felt like there should be a playlist to go along with it? Sometimes it’s really obvious, like there are actual songs referenced in the novel (hint hint). Other times the characters, themes, situations, or settings may just remind you of a track, album, or artist.

To kick off Teen Tech Week (March 9th-15th), we’re having a contest featuring some tunes from the library’s collection. You can check out any of these songs on their respective CDs or on Hoopla, a streaming service you can use with your library card!

One last thing: you have until the end of the month to submit an entry for our Battle of the Recorded Bands contest. We have prizes donated by Guitar Center to give away and other goodies, including a live gig at the library to kick off the summer!

It's been awhile since we've featured local teen writing so I thought I'd bring back Made in the Hub. Avid writer and Hub regular Silvio provided this short story, "The Crippled Jackal." Beware: this one isn't for the faint of heart! There's an excerpt below and the full text can be found online. Of course, you can always come to the Hub to read it too!

We're always making things in the Hub, from crafts and doodles on the drawing pad tables to good times over films on Fridays and Karaoke Koncerts. If you're interested in having your work featured in the Hub or want to know what we're up to, stop in to chat!

Even the darkness was marked with fear, as shadows joined it in its fright. There was no wind, and not a single tear fell from the sky, though tormented streams scarred the night air. For them, all the forces of nature and all spirits took pity, as much as any spirit can. Though the darkness endured, as did the screams of the tortured, resonating in the marble walls of ancient halls. Following the screams came the trickling of blood as it stained the milk white steps of ancient stairs. A pleasure palace bathed in blood. Though even when every marble step had been stained red, screams persisted to sound in the dark even as a new sound was heard. A faint but cruel laughter, light but sadistic in its origin emerged out of the horror, even more terrifying than the painful howling of all the other victims.

The assailants pressed him with pain, though he dealt them only laughter, and so they spared him for last, making him watch as they extinguished his friends one by one. Finally when it was his turn to die, they cut off a limb and bludgeoned the rest, but again the main was returned in equal measure by laughter, not screaming, but sadistic laughter.

Thinking that their victim was enjoying his torture, the assailants silenced his laughter forever and mutilated his eyes for good measure.

Thinking the task had been completed; the perpetrators departed with in stealth, just as quickly as they had appeared, leaving behind only corpses, and one tattered, broken body of a man with only a single eye.

Come out and up-cycle an old book or make a book-based paper craft. There are many different project ideas in books we've checked out for the Hub (like The Repurposed Library and Art Made From Books) or come up with your own project!

We even have a photo booth for you to pose with your favorite item from the library's collection or something you made in the Hub. Take one copy of the picture home with you and leave the other here telling everyone why YOU the library!

If you’re anything like me, you opted to watch the Blackhawks game instead of the Grammys. Although it was a heartbreaking Hawks loss, I would still choose it over the Grammys. Don’t get me wrong – I REALLY dig music. The Grammys just have a little too much hoopla for me. Sounds like I missed some epic performances: Beyonce & Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar & Imagine Dragons, not to mention Taylor Swift’s dance moves and a giant wedding ceremony. Luckily, coverage was pretty thorough; a web search delivered dozens of clips to accompany my morning coffee!

For all of you aspiring musicians, check out our Battle of the Recorded Bands contest: YOU could play a live show to kick off the library's summer reading program!

I'm sure everyone is heartbroken about school being closed today and tomorrow. With two weeks off for winter break, you didn't really need a couple of extra days off, right? Well, if you're fretting about upcoming final exams and projects instead of the polar vortex, come into the Hub for a place to study and to get research help!

I'm resurrecting a few research tips that I posted a few months ago below. They might come in handy with end-of-semester projects and papers.

We'll also be turning the Hub into a Finals Study Lounge on Saturday, January 11th - Thursday, January 16th. Join us for brain friendly snacks, stress relieving therapy dogs, and yoga sessions. We'll have laptops, iPads, and other supplies to help you survive finals!

Here are the aforementioned tips. Of course, you can always come into the Hub for help, email, Tweet, or Facebook message us too!

Search Strategies:
• Boolean Searching: Use operators to narrow or broaden your search. AND and NOT will narrow your search. OR will broaden your search. Quotation marks will search for a specific string of words (e.g. “moving truck”).
• Use the database's built-in filters to drill down to the most relevant search results.
• Read summary or abstract to determine whether an article will be useful. It will save you time!
• Want to cite an article? Check to see if there is a built-in citation generator on the webpage. If not, Purdue's Online Writing Lab has APA, MLA, and Turabian style guides.
• Searching the web? Evaluate your sources! Use the CRAAP or SMELL test.

I'm just damned. I am utterly and completely damned. You'll shoot me at the end no matter what I do, because that's what you do to enemy agents. It's what we do to enemy agents. After I write this confession, if you don't shoot me and I ever make it home, I'll be tried and shot as a collaborator anyway. But I look at all the dark and twisted roads ahead and this is the easy one, the obvious one. What's in my future - a tin of kerosene poured down my throat and a match held to my lips?

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein is an expressive novel set during World War II. Verity, a secret agent, is captured by the Gestapo and “convinced” to reveal her mission. Verity explores her past, how she came to be a spy, and how she arrived in Nazi-occupied France in her written confession. Verity is battling for her life as she fills sheet after sheet followed by random scraps of paper. As her intricate story unfolds, readers are left to wonder whether her detailed confession will be enough to save her life.

To be perfectly honest, I’ve never been one to enjoy historical fiction. I’d much rather read factual or personal accounts related to an event or time period. Well, I absolutely LOVED this book! Wein weaves a beautiful tale of desperation, courage, and friendship. The novel is written in journal-style from Verity’s and her pilot friend Kittyhawk’s points of view. Through these characters’ perilous journeys, readers experience the heartache and anxiety of friends and family separated during wartime. The harrowing tale pits evil against a clever, would-be traitor. I HIGHLY recommend this book – you won’t be disappointed!

I follow the Huff Post Teenblog. A couple of weeks ago, I came across a post written by Phoebe Dodds, a teen living in London, England. This post titled “Lost in Translation” explored foreign language books and films in a culture that predominantly speaks English. This post really piqued my interest since one of my duties at the Hub is to provide library resources like books, magazines, and DVDs to ESL students at Newcomer Center. This District 214 program assists high school students that have recently moved to the United States and are new to the English language. A large part of the items I send them are popular teen books originally written in English translated to their native languages.

An interesting fact that Dodds states in her post, “only 3 percent of all books published in English are translations”, blows my mind! Clearly, much more goes into translating a book from its native language. Nuance, mode of expression, and humor have to be considered and might not have a literal translation; however, there have to be more books out there worth translating! Reading this post prompted me to make a list of books translated to English. Some might surprise you, like The Three Musketeers. Some are new, like Ruby Red and 1Q84. Check one out and broaden your horizons.

Recently GoldieBlox, a California toy company, parodied “Girls” a Beastie Boys song. If you’ve never heard the song, it’s had its share of criticism for being sexist. Its lyrics joke that girls are only good for cleaning, doing the dishes, and laundry. GoldieBlox re-worded the song to encourage girls to explore the fields of science, technology, and engineering. Their use of the song without permission recently initiated discussion of copyright infringement versus fair use.

Copyright falls under the legal regulations, known as intellectual-property law, that govern an individual's or organization's right to use or disseminate ideas or information. Copyright deals specifically with the rights granted to a creator, publisher, or other owner of original content to reproduce, adapt, or distribute said content. You might think that intellectual-property law has nothing to do with you, but if you’ve ever created a slideshow and used your favorite songs as the soundtrack, mashed up content to make a funny video, or made a copy of a CD/DVD for a friend, it does apply. Here’s a video that’ll give you a review of copyright principles.

Some copyright-related terms defined:copyleft agreements: an alternative to placing works in the public domain or under traditional copyright laws; works can be modified as long as derivative works retain the same restrictions stipulated by the author of the original work. digital rights management (DRM): technological mechanisms to prevent content from being copied or shared over networks.fair use doctrine: permits moderate use of copyrighted materials for education, news reporting, parody, criticism, and even home consumption in some cases as long as the use does not detract from the market value of the work.intellectual-property law: legal regulations that govern an individual's or organization's right to use or disseminate ideas or information; encompasses copyright, patent, and trademark laws.orphan works: copyrighted works whose owners are difficult or impossible to find.public domain: legal status of a work that is not copyrighted by choice of owner or expiration of copyright term; anyone can use the work in any way they choose without cost.

If you want the details on copyright law and fair use, check out the US Copyright Office website.

Okay, we have less than two weeks to turn a robot that picks things up into a robot that kills other robots.

Chainsaws, people, we need chainsaws!

The graphic novelNothing Can Possibly Go Wrong follows a ragtag group of high schoolers on their journey to a robot rumble. Charlie is the captain of the basketball team. Nate is his best friend and the president of the school’s robotics team. Holly is head cheerleader and Charlie’s ex-girlfriend. When school funding comes up short, student council must choose whether the robotics team will attend the national robotics competition or if the cheerleaders will get new uniforms for the national cheerleading championship. Naturally, Charlie is pulled into the drama in the midst of dealing with his own problems. Eventually, the characters must set aside their differences and work together to battle in a Thanksgiving robotics competition that will get both the robotics team and cheerleading squad to nationals.

Prudence Shen and Faith Erin Hicks present a funny, heartwarming, and realistic story about dealing with high school cliques, camaraderie, competition, and friendship. Shen’s writing is an authentic portrayal of interactions between the teenage characters. The story is quick-paced and engaging. Hicks’ illustrations capture the characters’ personalities and sense of movement throughout the book. The humor of the novel comes from characters expressions and robot demolition conveyed by the artwork.

This is a great read for anyone – it’s a perfect Thanksgiving story to pass the time while you digest your turkey dinner!

If you missed last week’s Sonic Screwdriver program, here are the instructions so you can DIY!

What you need:
From the dollar store, a package of 3 highlighters, an LED clip-on reading light, and black electrical tape. You’ll also need paint, markers, or colored tape to color your finished Sonic Screwdriver.
Tools: utility knife or something to cut plastic with and pliers.

1. Choose which highlighter you would like as the main portion of your Sonic Screwdriver. Remove inky bits from this highlighter.

2. Next, you’ll prepare the three highlighter caps for the project. Choose which cap you would like for the light-up end of your Sonic Screwdriver and set it aside. Cut off the tips of the other two caps.

3. Use tape to connect the cap you set aside and one of the other caps.

4. Inventory your parts: you should have the pieces pictured on the left. Now, you’re ready to add the LED to your Sonic Screwdriver.

5. Carefully, insert LED through the marker top. You will need to use pliers to widen the opening. Connect the piece with the taped together marker caps and continue to feed the LED through.